So, here's my first post in, oh I don't know how long and it's kinda a cleansing and new start.  2012 was perhaps the biggest year for me since I graduated N.C. State.  I found and lost my first girlfriend and yes, it hurt a lot more than I thought it would.  Perhaps I'm not the badass grip I've told myself I am.  Well, maybe a badass grip but that doesn't really flow over into my personal being, just a part of me like my big toe is.

My first feature, and big feature, Iron Man 3, was this year.  Only 2 weeks (this was the time the disruption started for the girl and me) making it the greatest and possibly worst 2 weeks of my life.  The crew was absolutely amazing and I loved every minute of being with them.  Like finding a new family that's a little bit better than your blood family.  I do hope every minute of every day I get a call to work with them again.  I'm ready to make a move to anywhere that they would ask me to work.

I also got to work on my first big commercial gig.  I've worked small in-house shoots for Disney, ABC, T-Con (back in the day) but all those will never be seen by the mass public.  So yes, 2012 ended on a super high note, even with the break up (and goddamn I really miss her).

I also had dropped down to 207 pound but then shot back up to 217.  Granted, that is down from the 278 that I weighed in 2008 and, quite possibly higher before then.  So, all in all that is good.  Taking that into consideration, I installed a pull up bar in my roommate's garage.  Every day I do at least 3 sets, even if it's just 1 pull up.  It's not the quantity but the quality of the movement.  We've cleaned out a spot where I have 225# of Olympic weights and bar, resistance bands and the pull up bar.

I've researched calisthenics and will be incorporating them into my daily workouts.  I want to lean down so bad it hurts.  Part of this stems from her I know but I've always been fat.  And I don't mean the cute fat that girls can be, you know with the rounded cheeks and soft tummies but, that fat kid that never gets a date in high school through college fat.  200 pounds is the lowest I've ever been and I intend to blow that out of the water this year.

I also plan on buying and rigging out a grip trailer of 1, maybe 5 ton package deal.  It will be a slow and tedious process but, nothing worth doing ever is fast and easy right?  I thank y'all, or the one you that takes the time to fall onto this page and wish you a wonderful 2013.  Do your best to make this your year.

Cheers,
E

Le Sigh

   Wow... over a year and what a year.  Met a girl, lost her (and part of me as well I fear), worked my first 2 features (Charlie's Angels the Series and Iron Man 3: additional grip uncredited and grip (hopefully credited)).  I've dropped about 40 pounds and I have 25 more to drop.  I feel if I'm going to make it as a grip I need to be in as good a shape as I can, plus I'll look and feel better, right?
   So, this past week I saw Skyfall, what a fun movie and it looks great. It's scary to see what HiDef digital is becoming, but time is a merciless bitch to those that remain in the past.  I also got to see the trailer for Iron Man 3, and let me tell you, I geeked out.  I mean, I've worked numerous industrials, music videos, commericals, PSA's and Charlie's was on t.v. but, man there's just something about the big screen.  I became giddy with excitement and I realized what I fell in love with so many years ago as a high school student and college student: the thought that I could reach a wide audience and help them feel the way movies made me feel as a kid.
   I grew up fat, not too athletic and basically a book worm.  So I had to escape, and movies helped.  Low-budgets and indies are great and typically a lot of fun and full of challenges (limited budgets, gear, rigging and etc...) but man, I was so fucking happy.  I went out and got drunk I was so happy.  It got me to thinking, and I'm going to do all I can to get my horror (yes, I know another horror film) story shot.  What's the worse I could lose?
  Well, time for a shower, smelling bad and maybe cut the handles for my new home-made apple boxes later.  Might have to eat in there as well.

Cheers,

ETC

Day 1 of cycling.

So, today I started my routine of cycling to work, and did I learn a lot, hopefully. 1, leisurely bike ride times do not equate to the same as a purposed bike ride time. I grossly underestimated how well I would make time to work, so tomorrow, I'll be leaving around 7am. 2, people are much more stupid then when you're driving with them. 3, A stock saddle is well, a stock saddle. You must upgrade or pay the up-charge to get a better one. There's nothing worse than a sore ass all day long. 4, I must learn how and when to gear up/down in order to ride more efficiently. 5, map out your route way before hand. I took the route I would normally drive (not the 417 Dean/University) and it was brutal. While at work I mapped out a bike route on Google maps and it took me through a local park and while it did not save time, it made for an easier ride due to no traffic, just angry, snarling, drooling and barking dogs that wanted to eat my legs.
All in all though, I thoroughly enjoyed my ride and look forward to tomorrows' ride in. I also decided to make a video of my restoration of the Cannondale H300 I got off Craigslist. It will be both fun and something to occupy my time in a productive way since I'm not getting a ton of calls for gigs. I've got to write out how I'm going to present the video segments, where I'll shoot it (most likely my extremely messy garage: weekend plans: clean & straighten up the garage). I'm really looking forward to getting that bike road ready.

Okay, so I've been a bit slack. In all aspects of my life recently. I've been slipping in my work outs, writing, reading, work and basically every area of my life with the exception of cooking and masturbation. I've become solidified and that scares the hell out of me. So, tomorrow it's back to doing P90X, which does work, I can attest by it for when I was doing it earlier this year. But a slight shoulder injury sidelined me and I kinda just milked it for way too long. I'm back up to 225 lbs (according to the Publix up the road's weight scales) and my measurements are way off from where I want them to be. I've never felt genuine embarrassment before, but seeing that number and my friend's face, I wanted to just crawl under something. I hold my co-workers, students and everyone else to a higher standard, so what has happened to the standard I hold myself too? I want to apologize to everyone, and to myself; I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not carrying the same torch of ideals, beliefs and self-respect I demand of you. I will pick up my fever again starting today and carry it with such a fervor as to be unmatched. 90 days, 35 lbs it shall be done, it will be done here in Orlando Fl, Earth, third planet of our Milky Way Galaxy. I will be in touch soon and hopefully with about 10 pictures documenting my weight loss journey.

weight loss

So I went running today, but with a new goal in mind instead of just 'losing weight'. I ran with a heart rate monitor to make sure I could stay in my target zone to burn fat calories. I'm no longer obsessed with losing weight, more so with losing fat and narrowing my waist down. I need to shave off 4'' around the midsection. So, on this hot, balmy and fairly breezy Orlando Wednesday morning I ran 4 miles in 51 minutes and burned 800 calories. If I can do this 4x a week, that's 2 lbs a week dropping, but the flip side is my average heart rate was 83%, which is slightly outside the target for weight loss. Perhaps staying in the cardio zone will help me lose weight, it will just be slower, based on what I've read from various sites online. During my run I got to rescue a mocking bird who was suffering some sort of shock or heat stroke. On a busy stretch of highway I waited till the cars realized I was trying to get this little bird out of harms way and I quickly picked him up. Trying to get him into a tree he did not want to let go of my hand, again accredited to shock or extreme tiredness on his part. All in all it was a good run followed by some rows and a set of 21s after wards. I'm hoping that with this new goal I can pace myself better than I have in the past with getting into shape. To date I've gone from 269 in December '07 to 205-210 currently.

Short and long week.

So, this week was both short and long. Due to long overnight shifts and shoots the week went by incredibly fast. Next week will be the same. 3 shoots to start the week followed by 4 long days to fill in the rest of the work week. I feel I need to develop an addiction or hobby to fill in any lulls in time, just to keep a sense of continuity for when I'm not on set. Girl watching is always a good one, but that just leaves one wanting. Eating is another good one, but I'm trying to trim down. Oh well, it is what it is right? Hopefully a new 7D will be in the house pretty soon and then I can continually shoot and shoot. Well, off to watch the Lakers hopefully close out their series with the Thunder. Who would have thought it would be this great of a series. Plus it's inwardly entertaining to see & listen to my roommate get upset when things don't go well.

Later taters.

Addiction.

Ok, a side note to my blog cherry. I've decided that Facebook® is our new internet porn. It's more than addicting and you can make anyone a celebrity on there. Good times indeed and you heard it here first.